


Those Days

by OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Yurio really does care, dealing with anxiety and depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 10:50:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9231548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor/pseuds/OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor
Summary: How Yurio deals with Yuuri and Victor respectively when they're having their bad days dealing with anxiety/depression.





	

 

            Yuuri was easy to read, though Yurio would never tell him that. It might imply that he actually _cared_ about the older skater. (He did, but that was another matter entirely.) Katsudon spent too much time in his own head. Yuuri thought he hid it well, but anyone who spent _any time with him at all_ could figure it out. Secretly (very, very secretly) Yurio admired Yuuri’s ability to fight through the anxiety that could just as easily cripple him. Even if it messed with his skating, the man still went out on the ice. Off the ice, though, it was harder to deal with. Nothing to focus on, Yurio guessed. But being vaguely aware of Yuuri’s anxiety through seeing the results at skating competions or Victor’s occasional dropped comment was completely different than actually seeing it happen.

            Katsudon was refusing to leave the rink with Victor. That was the first clue that something was wrong. Yurio watched with mild disgust as Victor put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder, leaning down to talk quietly to him. Yuuri shook his head forcefully. Victor dropped his hand and left the rink, head bowed. Weird, Yurio thought as he continued his own practice, surreptitiously watching Yuuri at the same time. The older skater practiced the same jump over and over again, often falling on the punishing ice. Yurio could tell that Yuuri had pushed himself past the point of physical exhaustion, but he didn’t stop. Why had Victor just left him here? Yurio wondered angrily. As his coach and his freaking fiancé, wasn’t it Victor’s JOB to take of Yuuri?  Yuuri hits the ice again, and Yurio flinches.

            “Yo, Katsudon! We’re leaving!”

            “Oh, Yuri, I didn’t realize you were still here,” Yuuri said as he picked himself up off the ice. “I’m just going to skate a little longer, I think.”

            “No. There’s pirozki involved. My grandpa made some extra katsudon pirozki when he visited this weekend. You wouldn’t want to offend my grandpa, would you?”

            “Oh, I suppose not,” Yuuri said, reluctantly following Yurio off the ice. Yurio didn’t share that he had specifically asked his grandpa to make some extra katsudon pirozki specifically for the Japanese skater. It didn’t seem like a relevant detail. The walk to Yurio’s apartment was mostly silent, but neither skater minded. Yurio bustled around his little kitchenette, pulling out two plates and warming up the pirozki. Yuuri looked around the small space curiously.

            “You really live here all alone?” Yuuri asked.

            “I have Sargent!” Yurio said, gesturing to the very fat, very content cat lounging on the couch.

            “And trust me, this is better than when I had to live with Yakov because my mom said I was too young to live on my own. And there was last year, when I was living with Yakov AND Lilia… Trust me, this is far preferable. And it’s within walking distance of the rink, so Yakov and my mom are fine with it, as long as I behave myself.” Yuuri nodded, looking at the surprising number of framed photographs scattered around the little apartment, in between tacky animal print, well, everything. He was even more surprised when he recognized himself in a couple of the photos.

            “This is us, and my family, in Hatesu… and Yuuko and the triplets…” Yuuri murmured.

            “Yeah,” Yurio blushed. “C’mon, the food’s going to get cold.”  To Yurio’s relief, Yuuri seemed to calm down over the course of the meal, and even accepted Yurio’s (mostly good-natured) challenge to a game of Mario Kart.

            Yurio didn’t ask Yuuri to text him when he got home. (That might give the impression that he actually _cared_.) But he did text Victor when Yuuri left. Just to be safe.

 

            With Victor, it was harder to tell, and sometimes the depression snuck up. But Yurio knew the signs, had skated under the same coach as Victor for years. When Victor was depressed, he was, if anything, more exuberant --- at least in public. He put on that famous Nikiforov persona that the fans ate up. But in the moments when no one was watching (no one but a young Russian skater determined to be the very best) the absolute, devastating emptiness was visible on his face. Yurio would never let on that he knew that Maccachin was the reason that Victor preformed simple tasks such as getting out of bed, or making lunch. Or that Maccachin often ate at least half of that lunch. And Yurio would never admit to being concerned for the first time it happened after Victor brought Katsudon back to St. Petersburg with him. Not that he cared for Victor or the pig.

 

            “Yuri!” the Japanese skater called out to him skating over. Yurio rolled his eyes dramatically, but waited for the other skater.

            “What do you want, Katsudon?” Yuuri glanced around, then said,

            “Could I talk to you about Victor?”

            “So help me, Katsuki, if you try to ask me about saying sweet nothings in Russian again…”

            “No, no, nothing like that!” Yuuri  protested, blushing bright red and flapping his hands. His face fell.

            “No, this is serious, and you’ve been rink mates with Victor for a long time, so I thought you might know something about what’s going on…” Yuuri didn’t look at Yurio, fidgeting nervously with his hands. Yurio scowled. He’d seen the signs of the Ice King surfacing again, but had hoped he was wrong.

            “Is it the depression again?” Yurio asked bluntly. The older skater nodded sadly.

            “I’m pretty sure. I mean, Victor and I have talked about his depression, but, this is the first time I’ve seen it…” Yuuri trailed off.  “What do I do for him?”

            “What does he do for you?” Yurio asked. Yuuri started, as if he hadn’t even considered it from that angle.

            “He’s just… there for me, I guess.”

            “Then do that.” Yurio said simply. “In the past, Maccachin has been the reason he gets out of bed some days… and the pressure of returning to skating can’t be easy for a washed up old man like him.”  He wasn’t sure if Yuuri was listening to him anymore or not. The older skater clapped a hand on his shoulder.

            “Thanks, Yuri.”

            “If you guys get all gross, I don’t want to hear about it!” Yurio called as Yuuri skated away.  If he spent the next week purposely engaging Victor in conversation right before lunch so that the older man had to come to the cafeteria with him and eat something so as not to be rude, it still didn’t mean that he _cared._


End file.
